Conde Nast's Daniel Roth a biz journalist with "hip-hop" style

Daniel Roth, the former Fortune writer who was stolen away recently as the first hire for the as-yet unnamed business magazine being planned by Conde Nast, was profiled in the Louisville Courier-Journal. Roth is just shy of his 33rd birthday, and yet he has already interviewed Bill Gates and Warren Buffett at the same time.

Roth said this about his time at Forbes: “It was run at the time by an idiosyncratic guy named Jim Michaels, who put his stamp on every single story. He would write — in all capital letters — just the nastiest, meanest stuff on your story. It became sort of a game to see which of your friends had the worst comments. It was a strange place but also a great place to learn. They absolutely knew what they were talking about when it came to numbers, reading financial statements and such.”

The Courier-Journal’s Mark Coomes notes, “Roth will start the new job March 20 and spend the next few months crafting the magazine’s Internet strategy. Roth is sure to infuse the pages with his humorous style — and, on occasion, with photos of himself.

“Roth likes doing first-person stories. In a recent Fortune article called ‘Trading Places,’ he worked as a bellhop, an oil-refinery maintenance worker, a T-shirt folder and a Fed-Ex delivery man. The article featured 12 photos of the author.”

Read the profile here.